By Elliot Denman // Photo by John Nepolitan

As the Big Apple turned icy cold, performers in the NYRR Millrose Games Trials inside the confines of the New Balance Armory Track and Field Center turned in a series of red-hot, heart-warming performances.

With the 109th edition of the classic NYRR Millrose Games -- the standard of excellence in the indoor track world since its founding all those years ago -- now just 39 days away on February 20th and NYRR Millrose Games fever clearly in the air, it was time to get rolling....and Cory Pool, Diana Vizza,  Kyree Johnson, Jonah Gorevic and a long list of others surely did.

All Pool, the East Orange Campus High School flash, did was anchor his team of Panthers to a rousing 3:20.84 win in the Suburban Schools 4x400 relay Trials and give his team the inside track to the NYRR Millrose Games.

In a day of Trials drama at the Armory, Pool got the baton in second place back of Newburgh and blasted out to a 48.9 anchor and the big win. Newburgh (3:21.25) held on for second with St. Benedict's (3:25.54) third.

He had no doubts that he could do it -- saying "I felt confident while running; I just wanted to be able to finish strong during the last 150. "Well, he did that and a whole lot more.

Who needed Disneyland, anyway? Surely not Pool and teammates. As he put it, "it feels great to know we're going to Millrose."

But as fast as Pool & Co. were in their division, the Huntington team was even faster (3:20.71) in taking the Long Island section, and leaping into the nation’s top spot for the 4x4. Abington's 3:21.11 at the EmblemHealth Hispanic Games at the Armory last Saturday had been the previous national leader.

Vizza, the North Shore L.I. mile star, didn't need Disneyland, either.

"It's amazing," she said after her narrow 4:54.34 girls Invitation Mile win.  "I never thought this would actually happen. It was a huge goal for me."

And now, after leading for much of the first four laps, then ducking back into the pack and having to come from at least 10 meters back to win it, she's ticketed for a return to the Armory, too.

Germantown Academy's Abbe Goldstein (4:54.36) was nudged out for the win with Haddonfield's Briana Gess (4:55.11) and Cumberland Valley's Mady Clahane (4:55.96) hard on their heels.

The boys Invitation Mile saw Downingtown's Jaxson Hoey (in a quick 4:12.05) outduel Fordham Prep's Connor Lundy (4:14.41) while John Jay's Eion Nohilly (4:21.65) edged CBA's Drake Anzano (4:22.04) for third spot.

The start is just about everything, of course, in the sport's shortest races. It almost proved Kyree Johnson's undoing, too, at the Trials.

The Huntington High School speedster was DQ'd at the start of his last race and for a while thought he'd suffered a similar fate in this one. Fortunately for him, though, it didn't happen.

"Whew," he was likely saying to himself.

Well, cleared to run, he went on to win the 55-meter sprint in a blazing 6.45 seconds (following a 6.43 prelim.) Girls 55 dash winner was Paul Robeson's Charnice Anderson (7.25.)

 The NYRR Millrose Games, of course, is a meet for everybody, with Masters races as well as a series of kids specials interspersed in its program along with all the action involving the national and international elites.

One very special kind of kid, though, is Jonah Gorevic. Just as Eamonn Coghlan (who once lived in Rye, N.Y.) made the Masters Mile an attention-grabber and a seat-filler, the 12-year-old Gorevic, now of Rye and the Tailwind Track Club, seems to have the talent to put kids racing in a similar category.

As the 2015 NYRR Millrose Games winner in the Youth 800-meter race -- on top of his world age-group record 1-mile performances -- Gorevic is already a standout in his sport.  Well, he promises to stand out even more at the 2016 NYRR Millrose Games, after lowering his 800-meter PR to 2:17.69 in winning his Trial.

He won it (over Island Express's Michael Rodriguez-King at 2:20.75) despite feeling sick, and beginning to feel some pressure as a star of all young stars.

"My goal as still to run a PR, which I did, so I'm really happy," he said.

Looking ahead to Millrose: "It's a little nerve-wracking. But it also feels good going into this (upcoming) race because I've won (it) before and know I can do it."

NYRR Millrose Games fans are sure to remember Gorevic after all the recognition he garnered in lowering the world outdoor mile record for 11-year-olds to 4:51.85 last June at the Adidas Grand Prix Meet at Icahn Stadium. No 11-year-old had ever broken 5 before -- but Gorevic absolutely smashed his way through that barrier. He keeps it all so simple.

"I used to run everywhere I went and I just wouldn't stop running," he once told an interviewer. "I was just running to run.  Now that I know that I can run that fast, I have goals."

Clearly high on his list: another NYRR Millrose Games win. He turned 12 last August 21 and proudly shares that birthday with none other than Usain Bolt. Valerie Pastore took the girls Youth 800 in 2:34.13.

One more National-leading performance was notched by the Paul Robeson girls 4x400 relay team (3:48.95.)  Two more 4x400 winners:  South Shore boys in the PSAL section (3:23.31) and Westhampton Beach girls in the Long Island race (3:59.83.)

St. Anthony's raced to a Daily Double of CHSAA qualifying wins - the boys 4x800 team winning in 7:59.51 and the girls sprint medley foursome in 4:12.09.  Bishop Loughlin's boys claimed the 4x200 in 1:30.79.

For NYRR Millrose Games Trials results, photos, videos and more click HERE.